First printed by Tom D"Urfey, _Wit and Mirth, etc._ (1720), vi. 289-91; revised by Robert Burns for _The Scots Musical Magazine_, and again by Allan Cunningham for _The Songs of Scotland_; given with many differences, "long current in Selkirkshire," in the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_. The present version is a _rifaccimento_ from Burns and Scott. It is worth noting that Graeme (p.r.o.nounced "Grime"), and Graham are both forms of one name, which name was originally Grimm, and that, according to some, the latter orthography is the privilege of the chief of the clan.
XXIX
First printed in the _Minstrelsy_. This time the "history"
is authentic enough. It happened early in 1596, when Salkeld, the Deputy Warden of the Western Marches, seized under truce the person of William Armstrong of Kinmont--elsewhere described as "Will Kinmonde the common thieffe"--and haled him to Carlisle Castle, whence he was rescued--"with shouting and crying and sound of trumpet"--by the Laird of Buccleuch, Keeper of Liddesdale, and a troop of two hundred horse. "The Queen of England,"
says Spottiswoode, "having notice sent her of what was done, stormed not a little"; but see the excellent summary compiled by Scott (who confesses to having touched up the ballad) for the _Minstrelsy_.
Haribee = _the gallows hill at Carlisle_ reiver = _a border thief_, one of a cla.s.s which lived sparely, fought stoutly, entertained the strictest sense of honour and justice, went ever on horseback, and carried the art of cattle-lifting to the highest possible point of perfection (_National Observer, 30th May, 1891_) yett = _gate_ lawing = _reckoning_ basnet = _helmet_ curch = _coif or cap_ lightly = _to scorn_ in a lowe = _on fire_ slocken = _to slake_ splent = _shoulder-piece_ spauld = _shoulder_ broken men = _outlaws_ marshal men = _officers of law_ rank reiver = _common thief_ herry = _harry_ corbie = _crow_ lear = _learning_ row-footed = _rough-shod_ spait = _flood_ garred = _made_ slogan = _battle-cry_ stear = _stir_ saft = _light_ fleyed = _frightened_ bairns = _children_ spier = _ask_ hente = _lifted_, _haled_ maill = _rent_ furs = _furrows_ trew = _trust_ Christentie = _Christendom_
x.x.x
Communicated by Mr. Hunt,--who dates it about 1626--from Seyer"s _Memoirs, Historical and Topographical, of Bristol and its Neighbourhood_ (1821-23). The full t.i.tle is _The Honour of Bristol: shewing how the Angel Gabriel of Bristol fought with three ships, who boarded as many times, wherein we cleared our decks and killed five hundred of their men, and wounded many more, and made them fly into Cales, when we lost but three men, to the Honour of the Angel Gabriel of Bristol_. To the tune _Our n.o.ble King in his Progress_. Cales (13), p.r.o.nounced as a dissyllable, is of course Cadiz. It is fair to add that this spirited and amusing piece of doggerel has been severely edited.
x.x.xI
From the _Minstrelsy_, where it is "given, without alteration or improvement, from the most accurate copy that could be recovered." The story runs that Helen Irving (or Helen Bell), of Kirkconnell in Dumfriesshire, was beloved by Adam Fleming, and (as some say) Bell of Blacket House; that she favoured the first but her people encouraged the second; that she was thus constrained to tryst with Fleming by night in the churchyard, "a romantic spot, almost surrounded by the river Kirtle"; that they were here surprised by the rejected suitor, who fired at his rival from the far bank of the stream; that Helen, seeking to shield her lover, was shot in his stead; and that Fleming, either there and then, or afterwards in Spain, avenged her death on the body of her slayer. Wordsworth has told the story in a copy of verses which shows, like so much more of his work, how dreary a poetaster he could be.
x.x.xII
This epic-in-little, as tremendous an invention as exists in verse, is from the _Minstrelsy_: "as written down from tradition by a lady" (C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe).
corbies = _crows_ fail-d.y.k.e = _wall of turf_ hause-bane = _breast-bone_ theek = _thatch_
x.x.xIII
Begun in 1755, and finished and printed (with _The Progress of Poetry_) in 1757. "Founded," says the poet, "on a tradition current in Wales, that Edward the First, when he concluded the conquest of that country, ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death." The "agonising king" (line 56) is Edward II.; the "she-wolf of France" (57), Isabel his queen; the "scourge of heaven" (60), Edward III.; the "sable warrior"
(67), Edward the Black Prince. Lines 75-82 commemorate the rise and fall of Richard II.; lines 83-90, the Wars of the Roses, the murders in the Tower, the "faith" of Margaret of Anjou, the "fame"
of Henry V., the "holy head" of Henry VI. The "bristled boar"
(93) is symbolical of Richard III.; "half of thy heart" (99) of Eleanor of Castile, "who died a few years after the conquest of Wales." Line 110 celebrates the accession of the House of Tudor in fulfilment of the prophecies of Merlin and Taliessin; lines 115-20, Queen Elizabeth; lines 128-30, Shakespeare; lines 131-32, Milton; and the "distant warblings" of line 133, "the succession of poets after Milton"s time" (Gray).
x.x.xIV, x.x.xV
Written, the one in September 1782 (in the August of which year the _Royal George_ (108 guns) was overset in Portsmouth Harbour with the loss of close on a thousand souls), and the other "after reading Hume"s _History_ in 1780" (Benham).
x.x.xVI
It is worth recalling that at one time Walter Scott attributed this gallant lyric, which he printed in the _Minstrelsy_, to a "greater Graham"--the Marquis of Montrose.
x.x.xVII, x.x.xVIII
Of these, the first, _Blow High, Blow Low_, was sung in _The Seraglio_ (1776), a forgotten opera; the second, said to have been inspired by the death of the author"s brother, a naval officer, in _The Oddities_ (1778)--a "table-entertainment,"
where Dibdin was author, actor, singer, musician, accompanist, everything but audience and candle-snuffer. They are among the first in time of his sea-ditties.
x.x.xIX
It is told (_Life_, W. H. Curran, 1819) that Curran met a deserter, drank a bottle, and talked of his chances, with him, and put his ideas and sentiments into this song.
XL
The _Arethusa_, Mr. Hannay tells me, being attached to Keppel"s fleet at the mouth of the Channel, was sent to order the _Belle Poule_, which was cruising with some smaller craft in search of Keppel"s ships, to come under his stern. The _Belle Poule_ (commanded by M. Chadeau de la Clocheterie) refusing, the _Arethusa_ (Captain Marshall) opened fire. The ships were fairly matched, and in the action which ensued the _Arethusa_ appears to have got the worst of it. In the end, after about an hour"s fighting, Keppel"s liners came up, and the _Belle Poule_ made off. She was afterwards driven ash.o.r.e by a superior English force, and it is an odd coincidence that in 1789 the _Arethusa_ ran ash.o.r.e off Brest during her action (10th March) with _l"Aigrette_. As for the French captain, he lived to command _l"Hercule_, De Gra.s.se"s leading ship in the great sea-fight (12th April 1782) with Rodney off Dominica, where he was killed.
XLI
From the _Songs of Experience_ (1794).
XLII
_Scots Musical Museum_, 1788. Adapted from, or rather suggested by, the _Farewell_, which Macpherson, a cateran "of great personal strength and musical accomplishment," is said to have played and sung at the gallows foot; thereafter breaking his violin across his knee and submitting his neck to the hangman.
spring = _a melody in quick time_ sturt = _molestation_
XLIII
_Museum_, 1796. Burns told Thomson and Mrs. Dunlop that this n.o.ble and most moving song was old; but n.o.body believed him then, and n.o.body believes him now.
pint-stoup = _pint-mug_ braes = _hill-sides_ gowans = _daisies_ paidl"t = _paddled_ burn = _brook_ fiere = _friend_, _companion_ guid-willie = _well-meant_, _full of good-will_ waught = _draught_
XLIV
The first four lines are old. The rest were written apparently in 1788, when the poet sent this song and _Auld Lang Syne_ to Mrs.
Dunlop. It appeared in the _Museum_, 1790.
ta.s.sie = _a cup_; _Fr._ "ta.s.se"
XLV
About 1777-80: printed 1801. "One of my juvenile works," says Burns. "I do not think it very remarkable, either for its merits or demerits." But Hazlitt thought the world of it, and now it pa.s.ses for one of Burns"s masterpieces.
trysted = _appointed_ stoure = _dust and din_
XLVI
_Museum_, 1796. Attributed, in one shape or another, to a certain Captain Ogilvie. Sharpe, too, printed a broadside in which the third stanza (used more than once by Sir Walter) is found as here. But Scott Douglas (_Burns_, iii. 173) has "no doubt that this broadside was printed after 1796," and as it stands the thing is a.s.suredly the work of Burns. The refrain and the metrical structure have been used by Scott (_Rokeby_, IV. 28), Carlyle, Charles Kingsley (_Dolcino to Margaret_), and Mr. Swinburne (_A Reiver"s Neck Verse_) among others.